Roughly three in four of people who inject drugs in Denver’s greater metro area have Hepatitis C. One in ten has HIV. Accidental overdoses kill a person in Denver every day and a half.

The greatest tragedy is that many of these harms are preventible with basic changes to how public health is administered to those most at-risk. The biggest hurdle preventing these changes is stigma surrounding the issue. Our widespread inability to see people who inject drugs as morally worthy of measures that prevent the spread of disease and overdose is insidious. It kills.